by Lynne Fernandez and Monica Adeler
As we digest the news coming out of Europe, with millions of people out of work at the same time as austerity measures are shutting down the social programs they need more than ever, it is hard not to be worried about the future.
Closer to home, the economy remains sluggish and household debt is at an all-time high as workers struggle to stretch stagnant wages as much as possible. Locked as we are in the aftermath of a global recession we all feel powerless: how can we take control of our lives? How can we put a sense of purposefulness into our work? What happened to community and how can we get it back? Bad as the news is, we can take hope this May Day that another world is possible.
Free event on participatory budgeting: April 30, 2013, 7pm, Carol Shields Auditorium, Millennium Library
by Laura Rempel
Citizens are becoming more aware of the importance of equitable and accountable city management and development. Attendees at a recent forum organized by local non-profit and community groups expressed concerns about land development and other decisions being made by city council in Winnipeg. They noted frustrations such as difficulty accessing information, token public participation and a general concern with the culture at city hall.
With current forms of representative democracy, multi-level governance structures, isolated sector-based policy and limited revenue sources, Canadian cities struggle to meet their citizen needs. This leads to skepticism, distrust of leadership and seeking more responsive and relevant governance processes and solutions. CCPA Manitoba has long noted the importance of city budgets as critical policy tools. Through our Alternative Budgets we have demonstrated how our city government could make different choices leading to a budget that is more equitable and just. A next step would be for the City of Winnipeg to fully engage citizens in budget making through a participatory budgeting process.
by Jim Silver
[Ed. note: Jim Silver’s Moving Forward, Giving Back: Transformative Aboriginal Adult Education (Fernwood: 2013), will be launched at McNally Robinson Bookstore today, Tuesday, April 23, at 7:00 pm]
When she was 12 years old and still in grade 7, Claudette Michell left home in The Pas, running from racism at school and the effects of residential schools at home. She made her way to Winnipeg, becoming a survivor on inner-city streets. She lived in an abandoned car, and in a tent. She was often hungry. She was picked up by Child and Family Services repeatedly. She ran away. She was placed in locked facilities. She ran again, and again. At the age of 17 she had her first child. The baby’s father was in the same lock-up facility. She had no idea how to be a mom. But in that facility she was for the first time exposed to her Cree culture. This started her on a long journey.
by Lynne Fernandez
Just like the ice and snow that refuse to go away this April, the provincial government is frozen into a perennial cycle of cutting revenue and then scrambling to make up for the shortfall. Uncertainty around whether we will have yet another flood this year calls for some pretty rigorous scrambling. Flooding is turning out to be this government’s millstone, costing over $1 billion last year alone. Future flood-protection investments are predicted to require an additional $1 billion.
Having to deal with natural disasters throws a wrench into the works because they cannot be ignored; they’re spectacular, deadly, disruptive, and affect everyone directly or indirectly. So it is not surprising that a series of floods forced this government to look for a way to increase revenues.
by Lynne Fernandez
This April 28 we will commemorate the National Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. This yearly tribute is a somber reminder that far too many workers deal with unacceptably dangerous conditions while on the job.
According to the Canadian Labour Congress more than 1,000 Canadian workers a year are killed at work or die for reasons related to their jobs. In 2012 there were thirty nine work related deaths in Manitoba. From violent accidents to illnesses such as cancer caused by exposure to toxins, workplace fatalities are on the increase in Canada, in contrast to what is happening in other OECD countries where rates are decreasing.
You are invited to the
Framework Agreement Signing Ceremony
KIP International School and Winnipeg Partners
May 6, 2013
Circle of Life Thunderbird House
715 Main Street, Winnipeg
RSVP to ccpamb@policyalternatives.ca or call 204-927-3200
by Shannon Buck and Jennifer Rattray
On Saturday, April 13, 2013 women and men will come together to Move for Hope, a one hour workout to raise money for women’s shelters here in Manitoba. Shannon and Jennifer hope you will join them.
It started slowly. It usually does. He chipped away at her self-esteem, isolated her from friends, then family. She wasn’t allowed to work. She wasn’t allowed to talk to others. She wasn’t allowed to look at anyone. So began fourteen years of hell with her abuser.
Shannon was young when they married. Growing up in a small town in Manitoba she had witnessed addiction and abuse in her home. She learned at an early age to hide— to be there but not really be present.
“That is what I carried into relationships with me,” Shannon says.
So sorry. Due to unforeseen circumstances the Signing Ceremony scheduled for Wednesday March 20th has been postponed till a later date.
You’re invited!
CCPA-MB is having a community celebration to mark a new partnership with Universitas: a global information-sharing initiative that will connect Winnipeg inner-city stories with stories from around the world.
Dancers, drummers, food and dignitaries will all be present.
by Clark Brownlee and Donna Minkus
It is disappointing that Bill C-400, the private member’s bill attempting to introduce a national housing strategy in Canada, has been defeated. While its demise was not unexpected it was interesting that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a supposed “non-partisan” corporation, came out with an estimate of the cost of a national housing strategy.
In a news release just prior to the vote, CHMC estimated a national housing strategy would carry a price tag of $5.5 billion per year in rent subsidies. Leaving aside the motives of the government and CMHC for the timing of this release, it raises an important question about the cost of fixing a housing problem that has been allowed to fester and grow for decades.
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